In fact is kinda funny when we loose after the first grade eels beat our SG ball kids in the second half - their fans then bleating they are premiership bound.
They have a lot of new players coming through that need some game time to see where they all fit in to the new squad. The lead time i a bit shorter than usual as they have the World CLlub Challenge the week after agains St Helens.
Good to get the win, but not too many from either side will play much first grade this year. They were closed to full strength than us, which is a better indication of how both teams should fare this year.
Boy it was hot out there. I could only imagine how hot it would be at the centre of the field.
I thought the Panthers held the line well, considering the amount of ball they had in attack. They looked slick of the block pressing the Eels and forcing a fair few errors through a strong quick defence.
The second half, you could tell the fatigue was settling in on both sides. The points were not coming for either side, and frustration was settling in, many passes were not needed and pushed, leading to errors.
Parramatta pressed them late in the game when they got a sniff at levelling up the scoreboard, but the fatigue made it a mission impossible. The boys finished well.
Now as convoluted as the points system, I think I counted 13 (out of a max of 15) competition points (I think we may have missed line breaks and the 5 tries bonus points). I’ll double check watching the replay on Kayo in the morning.
Onto St Hellens next week. We are set to give the World Club Challenge a real shake. Got my tickets. Excited.
Boy it was hot, 38 degrees at kickoff and the crowd all either in the western stand or chasing the shade on the Southern Hill / bar area. Adds another reason for a new stadium, as it shows ours is unfortunately not suitable for summer daytime events.
How in their right mind thought a 6pm summer kickoff was a good idea, it will be similar next weekend too.
While my eyes were on the starting back 5, I thought the real star of the show was Lindsay Smith. To play 50 minutes at a high standard in that heat, he with play a lot more first grade this season.
Great intercept try by Jenkins, who showed a lot of pace. Pity whoever our new ground announcer is didn’t know his name (and announced it was coded by Cini who was the Eels number 4).
After Iongi went off with a head knock, our Flegg fullback Liam Ison came on, and I must say I see a lot of potential in this kid. Kinda reminded me of a younger version of Edwards or even Coote. Our starting hooker went well too.
Hard to gauge much else due to heat and the stop start nature of the game. The Eels were never in the contest though - considering they had many more player with first grade experience, should be a concern for the coach.
Salmon appear to have beefed up, looks like he is aiming for 2nd row.
Let’s hope next weekend is played in more forgiving circumstances
I think they need t rethink the timing for the game, the heat was unbearable at Penrith last night,I can only imaging how fatiguing it would be on the players.
I think I would make it so the earliest game is at 7pm. The temperature seemed to be coming down around then and was ‘fairly’ comfortable by 8pm.
How i would do it is like this.
Day
Game
Time
Game
Time
Thursday
1
7:00pm
2
9:00pm (QLD)
Friday
3
7:00pm
4
9:00pm
Saturday
5
7:00pm
6
9:00pm
Sunday
7
7:00pm
8
9:00 (QLD)
Monday
9
7:00pm
QLD Matches would play at 8pm and broadcast at 9pm AEDST.
While the late game would wrap up fairly late, I feel it would draw a better crowd in some areas and wouldn’t disrupt the broadcast schedule.
I would suggest that costal games are played earlier, and high heat areas (like Penrith) draw later times.
Another thing was that aside from the heat, the club obviously decided to save money by not turning the lights on. It may have looked ok on TV but from the ground the last 10 minutes May of well been played in darkness.
Had it been cricket the players would of called for light, and already been in the sheds.
Some pretty good points raised already. It was good to get the win, but the result does not really matter in the overall scheme of things, particularly with a more important game next week & the fact it was a million degrees. I can only recall two previous games in those type of condition - once against the dogs and once against the knights.
The main thing in the buildup to the season is how we go in replacing the two guys we lost, who were both as good as any in the league in their positions. From what I saw from Salmon & Hosking, and Geyer, I suggest we are well placed in the backrow. This game of course did nothing re dummy-half, except to show that Sommerton looks to have a bright future for further down the track.
I see us making a good defence of the premiership trophy & look forward to watching the boys go around again this year.
I think Sommerton did well too. He will keep some pressure on Mitch Kenny and Soni Luke to maintain their pecking order.
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Saturday 11/3 6:00pm
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